I met Abel and Caty through Roberto. Every Tuesday Abel works in the banana stall just next to Roberto’s orange stall. Abel does not own the stall, but he is in charge of its administration. Thus he is the employee of the owner. He has been working as an employee at the street market for over ten years. He takes care of the sales and the customers. Abel, as many others in the market, migrated from his birthplace to the big city. He was born and raised in Paso Moral, Veracruz. Farmer by trade, Abel explains that he had to leave this work due to the lack of resources dedicated to the development of agriculture in the Veracruz region. His partner, Caty, helps him in the stall when she is not busy selling the bags she makes. Born in the metropolitan area, Caty is an artisan by trade and family tradition. However she has worked in the formal sector, in an electrical appliances company. But, due to the low salary and the short amount of time left for her to take care of her children after work, Caty decided to leave and join the street market by selling her handcrafts in the street market.

Both Abel and Caty enjoy working with their hands. They are very ingenious and dedicate time to learn and perfection sewing techniques but also techniques to solve daily problems related to the street market assemblage and sale. They were in charge of creating the altar of the death that appears in the video “The Limits of Tradition”. Abel, using coins and small pieces of string, taught me how to stretch and give shape to a piece of clothing to create the cabin used for the intervention videos.

This is a portrait of Camila, a five-year-old girl that usually accompanies her father to make the groceries in the street market. In the drawing it can be seen Camila wearing a striped dress, standing next to her father and both are speaking to Abel, represented next to a big bunch of bananas. Below, Camila has even represented the logo of the Market on Wheels programme: a smiley stall. Camila’s father personally gave this drawing to Abel, telling him that Camila sent it especially for him. Abel has kept the drawing with care among his things but he also observes: “look at my little head and look how big the bananas are. It is here when you also realize that I will always be ‘just the banana vendor’”.